Union coalition passes full proposal in King County MLA bargaining

Our King County Coalition of Unions bargaining team at the Teamsters Union hall in Tukwila.

BACKGROUND:

Our King County Coalition of Unions negotiated a Total Compensation agreement with the County last year covering basic compensation elements of your contract. The Total Comp agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by individual bargaining units within the King County Coalition of Unions.

As part of the agreement, we committed to bargain a Master Labor Agreement (MLA) basing it on the structure of the National Master Agreement between United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

If we are successful in ratifying a Master Labor Agreement by the end of 2017, members of the Coalition will receive an additional 1 percent general wage increase effective January 2018.

BARGAINING UPDATE - MARCH 30:

On March 30, our Coalition of Unions met with the County to continue negotiations over a Master Labor Agreement (MLA). The MLA would consolidate language in our contracts into one general agreement that will apply to all Unions in the Coalition that vote to accept the MLA as well as setting contractual minimums for all participating bargaining units to promote internal equity throughout the Coalition agreements.

During this negotiation session, the Coalition of Unions presented an initial comprehensive proposal for the MLA that identified the priorities and interests of the various memberships. The County responded with many clarification questions geared towards fully understanding the interests behind our proposals.

After a short caucus the County expressed their appreciation for the work of the Coalition bargaining committee and shared that it is their goal to present a complete counterproposal at the next scheduled session on April 20.

We will be ready to continue negotiations and are committed to communicating our progress as we move forward.

If you have questions, please contact your Bargaining Committee member or your Union Representative. We will have another update for you after the meeting on April 20.